“I could tell that you’ve always kept a low-profile.” Guo Ming laughed heartily. “Why didn’t you bring your wife and girlfriend along? Li Shaobin, didn’t you say you had a partner already? A few of them are as curious about your girlfriend as I am.”
“My girlfriend had something to do,” Li Shaobin said with a grin. “Chuyi’s wife also has a program shoot to do.”
“Oh, right, right, right, I heard that Chuyi and Yan Changqing got married. That was really unexpected. Chuyi was always very close to Song Yunyang back in the day. You two even went to the States to study together. I can’t believe that in the blink of an eye, you got married and so did she,” Guo Ming lamented. “How things have changed.”
Song Chuyi said calmly, “As long as we’re living happily.”
“But I really didn’t expect you to like the sexy type like Yan Changqing. I always thought you liked the pure kind. Haha,” Guo Ming said.
“What you see on TV might not be the reality.” Song Chuyi only spoke one simple sentence. To him, there were many sides to Changqing. She was occasionally a little sexy and sometimes silly, but in certain aspects, she was a little vixen. “Is Teacher Wu here?”
“He came ages ago. Go on in first. I’ll wait for the other classmates for a while.” Guo Ming pointed to the suite.
A few of them entered. Their high school form teacher, Teacher Wu, was surrounded by a group of classmates. Li Shaobin and Song Chuyi walked over to greet everyone. At the age of 30, their conversations would inevitably revolve around their careers, families, and girlfriends.
Everyone had heard about Song Chuyi’s marriage. However, since they hadn’t heard about Li Shaobin having a girlfriend, and on top of that, since they knew about Li Shaobin’s crush on Zhou Shuyun back then, everyone was curious about his girlfriend now that they found out about it. However, Li Shaobin’s mouth was tightly sealed.
“Aye, Shaobin, you refused to bring her over and you don’t even want to reveal to us what your girlfriend does. Are you trying to trick us into thinking you have a girlfriend?” Lu Cong, his classmate, teased.
“Is there a need to trick you about this? If I have one, I have one. If I don’t, I don’t.” Li Shaobin thought for a while before saying, “She’s a patissier but she’s very beautiful. Super beautiful.”
“Shaobin, your family is so wealthy that you don’t have to look at a person’s background. You can just find whoever you like,” someone said enviously.
At this time, Xiang Qizhe, who had been sitting and smoking on the couch, suddenly said softly with a smile, “I doubt it. I heard your girlfriend is someone we all know.”
Li Shaobin’s face stiffened. Teacher Wu also said curiously with a smile, “Someone we all know? Could she be also a classmate?”
“No, I heard she was a very popular celebrity who’s out of fame now.” Xiang Qizhe laughed. “Ruan Yang, isn’t it?”
Song Chuyi squinted and glanced at Li Shaobin beside him, whose gaze had begun to turn gloomy.
Everyone was stunned. Everyone did know the name “Ruan Yang”.
Although they were all older than Ruan Yang, Ruan Yang had gained fame very early, and most importantly, Ruan Yang had a thing with Xin Ziao. As his classmates, everyone had been paying close attention to her.
“No way,” a female classmate by the name of Mao Xi said softly.
“Why aren’t you admitting it?” Xiang Qizhe said with a smile. “A patissier, indeed. Unless that isn’t her.”
Li Shaobin took in a deep breath. Song Chuyi still had a slight smile as he said, “It’s not that he doesn’t want to admit it. It’s just that Ruan Yang went to Norway to learn dessert-making some time ago. Ruan Yang is so popular, after all, and there’s been paparazzi out there trying to dig up news of her. Shaobin didn’t say her name because he wanted to protect her privacy.”
“Popular? She’s just a celebrity past her prime.” Xiang Qizhe inhaled on his cigarette.
Li Shaobin slammed the table and stood up, saying as he pointed to Xiang Qizhe, “I dare you to repeat that.”
“Am I wrong?” Xiang Qizhe put on an innocent face.
“Ruan Yang left the entertainment industry on her own. She was never past her prime.” Li Shaobin’s eyes were shining with a chilling glare. “Xin Ziao, stop trying to act cocky in front of me. Your family might have some money but the Li family doesn’t even give a f*ck about the little money your family has. You’ve always just been a dog in front of Xin Ziao.”
Xiang Qizhe stood up angrily after being humiliated. “What did I say just now that deserved such a scolding from you? I merely told the truth. Li Shaobin, don’t throw your temper at me just because you’ve lost face…”
As he said that, he suddenly glanced at the door and waved as he said, “Ziao, you’re here just at the right time. Our Young Master Li is acting very cocky now. I just said a few words and he’s acting like he wants to eat me up.”
Everyone turned their heads around and saw Xin Ziao walking in and closing the door just at that moment. After not seeing him for a long time, Xin Ziao was still cold and aloof. When he saw the tense atmosphere in the suite, he merely put on a calm smile. “What’s the fight about? It’s such a rare occasion for us to gather together.”
“That’s right; let’s all stop fighting.” Teacher Wu stepped out and tried to persuade them: “There are so many people around. Let’s not get angry over a little incident. Xiang Qizhe, cut it out. Li Shaobin, give your teacher some face.”
When had Li Shaobin shown his teacher face ever since he was young? When he was in high school, he even turned the world upside down. Having fights and quarrels with teachers during classes was part of the norm. However, now that he had grown up, he had become more sensible. On top of that, Song Chuyi was pulling him back, so he suppressed his anger and sat down with a snort.
Lu Cong changed the topic. “Right, isn’t Zhou Shuyun coming tonight as well? Why isn’t she here yet?”
“She just texted me to say that she’s already downstairs,” Tian Yan, who was quite close to Zhou Shuyun, informed them.
Li Shaobin felt his heart drop. Although he didn’t like Zhou Shuyun anymore, he still hated Xin Ziao for several years because of her, and he was still a little curious regarding what Zhou Shuyun looked like now.
He remembered that Zhou Shuyun had a little baby fat back in high school. She was fair, soft-spoken, and gentle. By right, a woman like that would get married very quickly. Why hadn’t she gotten married at almost 30?
Just as he was thinking that, the door to the suite was gently pushed open. A woman with very long hair peeked in. Her hair was untied and her skin was still very strikingly fair. She was wearing a long and thin grey down jacket with a pair of long black boots. Under the overhead lights of the suite, her makeup was considered exquisite. She appeared a little awkward at first but still smiled at everyone.
Li Shaobin heard Tian Yan call out “Shuyun” and the entire suite fell silent once again. A few weird glances were cast on him.
Although Li Shaobin was thick-skinned, he couldn’t help but feel a little awkward when recalling the past. His gaze went to Zhou Shuyun once again and felt that her face was a little similar to what he remembered but there were quite a few changes. If they were on the streets, he might’ve taken quite a while to recognize her.
Zhou Shuyun no longer had an oval face but a typical heart-shaped face. Her lips were bright red and her previous single-eyelids were now a pair of bright and deep-set eyes. In the past, she still had a couple of pimples on her face. Now, her exquisite makeup covered everything so well that her pores couldn’t even be seen.
During high school, Zhou Shuyun could only be considered average-looking, but Li Shaobin also wasn’t the type to go for looks. Sometimes, it was all about the feeling. However, the current Zhou Shuyun felt very unfamiliar. She didn’t give him the feeling she did back then.
His foot was suddenly stepped on and he regained his senses. He frowned and looked at Song Chuyi, who was beside him. “Why did you step on me?”
Song Chuyi said lightly, “Changqing told me to keep a close watch on you and make sure you didn’t get mesmerized by your first love again.”
Li Shaobin was stunned. His heart thumped as he said gleefully, “Could it be that Ruan Yang secretly told Changqing to get you to keep a watch on me? Is she worried about me?”
“Ruan Yang never said that. It was Changqing’s orders,” Song Chuyi said softly with a slightly cynical gaze. “But Ruan Yang probably thinks you’re so safe that even if Zhou Shuyun were to tie you up, she wouldn’t be able to take you away.”
Li Shaobin’s face fell. “Then why did you step on me?”
“It’s your fault for staring at her.” Song Chuyi mocked. “Changqing told me to wake you up with a slap if you kept staring foolishly at your first love. I’ve already been very kind.”
Li Shaobin touched his face and scolded him: “Your wife is so ruthless. I only took an extra look at Zhou Shuyun because I almost couldn’t recognize her.”
“She got her face done.” Song Chuyi threw those five words out casually.
Li Shaobin stared wide-eyed at him.
Song Chuyi continued to speak at a volume which could only be heard by the two of them: “Got her single-eyelids cut and some face-slimming injections.”
“Old Song, you can even tell?” Li Shaobin was shocked.
“Of course. I’m a person who holds a surgical knife every day,” Song Chuyi said.
Li Shaobin lamented, “I didn’t think a conservative person like Zhou Shuyun would actually go under the knife. Why though? Wasn’t she quite decent-looking before? Now she looks almost like those typical influencers.”
“It’s been more than 10 years since we saw each other. Who wouldn’t have changed? Do you think everyone’s like you?” Song Chuyi said.
“I’ve also changed, alright? Didn’t you see how they were saying I’ve become more handsome and more charismatic?” Li Shaobin rolled his eyes at him.
Song Chuyi was about to retort when Zhou Shuyun had already arrived in front of them as she greeted everyone all the way from the other side.